Vinaya bankruptcy closes rocky year for wearables

December 30, 2016

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A little more than a year after Vinaya raised $3 million in seed funding from backers including Playfair Capital, the London-based manufacturer of smart jewelry and other wearables has entered the bankruptcy administration process, according to a Business Insider report. Regulatory filings indicate the company will become two separate entities, Vinaya and Vinaya Technologies. It remains to be seen whether the company’s new Zenta device, a biometric bracelet designed to track both fitness and emotions, will ship in January as previously scheduled.

Vinaya’s bankruptcy concludes a troubling year for wearables makers. The company relied on crowdfunding for its yet-to-be-shipped bracelet—a strategy reminiscent of Pebble, the smartwatch builder that launched a record-setting Kickstarter campaign in 2012. Pebble experienced its own demise earlier this month with a sale to Fitbit (NYSE: FIT) for somewhere between $34 million and $40 million—a paltry number compared to the $740 million takeover offer the company is believed to have turned down in 2015.

And Fitbit, perhaps the most established player in the space, didn't have a stellar year either. The company's stock closed Thursday at $7.39 per share, a drop of nearly 75% compared to the same time last year.